Qandil was arrested late Tuesday to serve a year in jail for not abiding by a 2011 court ruling ordering the re-nationalisation of the Tanta Flax and Oil Company. The lawsuit against Qandil was instigated by a number of the company’s workers.

The company was privatised in 2005, when it was sold to Saudi investor Abdel-Ellah Al-Kaaky at a depreciated value, forcing hundreds of workers into retirement. In September 2011, the Administrative Court ruled against the privatisation of Tanta Flax and Oil, which Qandil failed to execute.

He was appointed prime minister during ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi's one-year rule. Soon afterwards, a Cairo misdemeanour court upheld the ruling sentencing him to one year in prison for failure to implement the Administrative Court re-nationalisation verdict.

Referred to the Torah Prison among tight security, Qandil was soon dressed in the blue inmate uniform. His arrest comes amid a security crackdown on Islamists following Morsi's ouster in July.

Thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members, including the upper echelons, are detained and due to stand trial on charges of inciting violence. Morsi himself is involved in three different cases for alleged incitement to murder and conspiring with Hamas to plot against Egypt.

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Pan-African News Wire

The Pan-African News Wire is an international electronic press service designed to foster intelligent discussion on the affairs of African people throughout the continent and the world. The press agency was founded in January of 1998 and has published thousands of articles and dispatches in newspapers, magazines, journals, research reports, blogs and websites throughout the world.
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PANW editor Abayomi Azikiwe is often solicited by various newspaper, radio and television stations for comment and analysis on local, national and world affairs. He has served as a political analyst for Press TV and RT worldwide satellite television news networks as well as other international media in the areas of African and world affairs. He has appeared on numerous television and radio networks including Press TV, RT, Al Jazeera, China Global Television Network, BBC, NPR, Radio Netherlands, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, South Africa Radio 786, Belgian Pirate Radio, TVC Nigeria and others.